Week 1 – Reynauld, Crusader
The crusade is over.
This place is terrible, in its way, but it is better than those strange lands. Familiar despite the reeking shadows to seaward.
Parts of it remind me of home.
The Heir of the ruined manor has hired a grim fellow named Dismas to join us. He is good with a blade and a good shot, but he will not speak long with me, and he turns aside when I pray.
Still I feel he is kindred somehow. He has also left someone behind.
There is a stagecoach waiting at the Hamlet. Perhaps it will have brought more soldiers.
I, Reynauld, wrote this.
Week 2 – Bosc, Plague Doctor
A dreadful place, in need of better doctors. And am I paid to doctor villagers? I am not. I am paid to throw poison at monsters.
This vile backwater makes less sense than the university. At least here they try to stab you in the front.
However, my research into bone-etching acids has improved enormously. Shocking how much more quickly it goes with this wealth of practical experimentation!
That gives me an idea that I shan't commit to paper.
More mercenaries arrive every day. Another mission is afoot; I remain here at the Heir's request to see to certain preparations required to reopen the Sanitarium, but there is an appealing gentleman from the South with an appealingly mangy hound. I must ask if he will let me examine her.
Bosc, Dr. Md., physician.
Week 3 – Adenay, Vestal
I have never seen a town more in need of the Light.
There is a fearful darkness in this place, but I believe we can drive it back. The sisters of the abbey here are more kindly than those of St. Martha's.
A handsome commander from the crusades is leading us today into the ruins of an ancient mansion. I wonder if he is one of the knights who came to St. Martha's for a blessing before leaving for the war?
My mace is ready and my faith is strong. The ruins await.
~Later~
Rapture! I cannot describe the strange elation that comes from lashes received in the service of the Light. I write this from my bed, with stitched wounds glowing in my side. Their blades and whips opened my skin and I could feel my sins leaving me, burned away in the fire of holy pain.
Raising your hand and seeing the Light respond and monsters wither in its blaze is indescribable. Ecstasy!
Dr. Bosc gave me something to drink. I feel as if I am floating. She is an excellent doctor.
Adenay, in service to the Light.
Week 4 – Mathan, Houndmaster
Air here's better than in the city. Lulubelle's doing better. Giving voice well.
Not much law, just the Heir's money and his mercenaries to enforce it. But maybe that's better. We've seen how much good the law is.
Small towns and small laws are better. But maybe that leads to destruction just as easily, hey, girl?
No point in this. Venturing into the Weald. At least putting beasts down is easier than men.
Most men. Some it's a pleasure.
There's nothing good in the past. Maybe there's a light coming.
Mathan.
Week 5 – Dismas, Highwayman
It's a fecking lie.
Bosc, that rancid bitch, claims that I have syphilis. Syphilis! The one sin I've been innocent of is infidelity. If a man had said I had defiled my marriage I would have killed him.
The salves she gave me soothed the pustules. I would have kissed her for that, but I despise her and she doesn't want to catch… whatever this is.
Fortunately, she seems to have kept her theorizing about my disease behind that inscrutable mask. I imagine the sly glances that new girl's been giving me would be of a much different character if Bosc had been chattering. She calls herself "Berners," which I imagine must be her surname, if it is her name at all.
She is attractive, and she obviously comes from money. But I cannot look at her in that way yet.
Reynauld's incessant praying grates at my nerves. He does it to soothe his own heart, I think. But my sin weighs on me, and I do not want to remember the Light.
Dismas.